Archive for the ‘York’ Category

Agecroft No 1 was one of three locomotives built in 1948 in Newcastle to shunt wagons at Agecroft Power Station. It remained in service until 1980 when it passed into private ownership. It was bought by the Science Museum at Manchester in 2009 and is now at the National railway Museum in York.

On the day I visited it was hauling a brake van, giving rides to visitors.

So often we concentrate on the big passenger express locomotives but there were hundreds, if not thousands, of engines, like Agecroft that drove our industry during the steam era and are part of that history.

Class 47 No798 was built at Crewe and entered into service in 1965 and was employed on a wide variety of duties including heavy freight and express passenger services. It regularly pulled the Royal Train during its working life. It was originally without a name until August 1985 when it was named ‘Firefly’. It was renamed ‘Prince William’ in 1995. It was presented by its owners EWS Railways to the Science Museum collection when it was withdrawn from service.

No trip to York is complete, at least for me, without a visit to the National Railway Museum.

My first stop this time was the South Yard where 60103 Flying Scotsman was parked up in between trips on the mainline. Unfortunately, it was parked around a corner of a building so it wasn’t accessible for good photographs.

Next stop was the Station Hall which as its name suggests is set out like a large station with trains in bay platforms, enabling you to walk alongside them.

At the moment it is hosting a display of Royal Train carriages from different periods of history.

In the Grand Hall, there is a display on Express trains featuring the Eurostar (which runs between London, Paris and Amsterdam) and the Japanese Bullet train, the Shinkansen.

It is now over 50 years since steam was phased out on UK railways and so aside from the steam locomotives more diesel and electric locomotives are being added to the national collection for preservation.

But finally, no visit would be complete without a stop at my favourite class of locomotive, the Gresley A4 Pacifics, here represented by 4468 Mallard. Last time I was here was to see all 5 of the worlds remaining A4s together to celebrate Mallard’s record-breaking run.

Barley Hall is situated in the centre of York. Parts of the house date from around 1360, when it served as a lodging for priests and monks from Nostell priory visiting the Cathedral. In 1430 it was rebuilt and in 1466 was leased to William Snawshall, a goldsmith, who would become an Alderman and later Lord Mayor of York. In 1489 William moved away from York and a series of different tenants held the Hall. Following the dissolution of the Monasteries, it became the property of the crown and continued to be let to tenants. At some point in the 16th or 17th centuries, it was sub-dived into different dwellings and by the early 20th century had become used for workshops and storage. By the mid 20th century it was in a very poor condition and in 1984 it was bought by the York Archaeological Trust. In the 1990s following extensive excavations, the Trust took the decision to restore the Hall to its Medieval state. It was named Barley Hall after the founder of the YAT. they tried to preserve as much of the original building as possible but centuries of poor maintenance meant that some timbers etc was too far gone to be saved and had to be replaced.

As you walk around the hall today, it is set up exactly as it was when William Snawshall, Lord Mayor of York lived there.

As with many Cathedrals, the roof of York Minster sores upwards creating a sense of immense space. There was a lot of maintenance work going on including the restoration of the organ and so the centre of the Cathedral was full of scaffolding which rather obscured and spoilt the impression on this occasion though. Still, this work has to be done and I imagine it is one big headache trying to keep an 800-year-old building in tip-top condition.

The first church on this site was built around 627 AD by the Kings of Northumbria and 100 years later the first Archbishop of York was recorded. The Saxon Church, which had been rebuilt in the 8th century following a fire, was seriously damaged by William the Conqueror’s forces in 1069 during the ‘Harrying of the North’. William appointed a new Archbishop who set about building a new Cathedral on the site. The present building was built between 1220 and 1472 in the Gothic style.

One of the venues for the talks at the History weekend was the King’s Manor. The original house on this site was built in the 12th century as a lodging for the Abbot of the adjacent St Mary’s Abbey. There was a substantial rebuilding of the property in the 15th century and on the dissolution of St Mary’s in 1539, it became the headquarters for the Council of the North, a regional government set up by Henry VIII. When the council was disbanded in 1641, the Manor became the home of the Governor of York. From 1668 until the 19th century it was let to private individuals. In the 19th century, it was purchased for the Yorkshire School for the Blind, who remained in the property until they relocated in 1958. It was acquired by York Council and leased to the University of York, where it housed the Department of Architectural Studies and the Centre for Medieval Studies. When the former relocated, it was replaced by the Department of Archaeology.

A long weekend in the wonderful city of York to attend the York History weekend and the chance to hear some of the countries leading experts talk about history from the ancient world to Brexit.

Also, it was a chance to re-visit some of the fascinating historical sights in the city. Apart from day trips to the National Railway Museum, it is probably 20 years since I spent longer than a day here and much has changed.

The weekends’ talks were held in the Yorkshire Museum and in the Kings Manor and my focus this weekend is on Anglo-Saxon England. I also visited the National Railway Museum (a must for any visit to York), York Minster, Barley Hall, The Yorvik centre and The Richard III Museum.